Writetober
by Zeiyuu
Summary: A compilation of many different oneshots! One for each day during the month of October! Some will be autumn/halloween related... others will not! I hope that you enjoy please R&R!
1. Cheeky

I'M A BIT LATE IN JOINING THE BANDWAGON

Day 7~

Though unashamed-shipper came up with such a great idea to spread the written love this October~

I do NOT own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima

* * *

That damn cat.

Natsu groaned as he ran his fingers back through his messy, rose-colored hair. Obsidian eyes hardly blinked as he stealthily followed the punk of a cat that had managed to slip through his apartment door while he was carrying one of the few boxes he'd brought with them.

As though moving into a new apartment wasn't hell enough, now he had to catch Happy. It didn't feel as though the day could really get any worse.

Of course, the second he thought that… things indeed got worse.

Happy, who had been moving at a somewhat steady trot before, broke into a run and turned a corner.

"Shit!" Natsu exclaimed before he took off running, though only cursed again when he didn't see neither hide nor hair of the Russian Blue cat. All he could see was a long hallway of multiple different doors, which read to multiple different rooms.

Thankfully, the hallway was actually a dead end. Which could mean only one thing…

Natsu walked to each and every door and beat on it, demanding to know where his cat was.

This earned him quite a few dirty looks, and he had even managed to get himself into a brawl with some stupid looking guy with droopy eyes. How could Natsu resist punching the guy in the face when he began to strip right in front of him?

Rubbing his sore cheek, Natsu frowned when he realized that he'd gone to every single door in this hall except for one.

Setting his expression into that of intense stubbornness, Natsu raised his fist and pounded on the door even harder than he had all the doors previous.

"Oi!" He shouted.

The door then swung open, catching Natsu by surprise.

He couldn't pull his punch in time and wound up decking the blonde woman that answered his insistent noise right in the face.

"Aw shit!" Natsu cursed for what felt like the thousandth time that night and he hurried into the apartment and knelt down beside the girl who was pushing herself up from where she'd landed on her backside. "Are you okay? Gah, I swear I didn't mean to do that! You just pulled the door open so suddenly!"

Natsu sniffed the air then when he realized something, "Are you making something with pumpkin?"

The blonde then shot up and placed her hands on her hips as she glowered down at him, "What is wrong with you?! You punch me in the face, and you ask me if I'm- how would you even know something like that?"

Natsu swallowed nervously before a flash of movement caught his eye.

"Happy!" The cat ignored the rose-haired young man and instead leapt into the blonde's unsuspecting arms, though she somehow managed to catch the cat before he could latch on with his claws.

The little thing immediately curled in her arms and rested his head on her scantily clad chest.

Natsu's cheeks heated up when he noticed just how low her top fell and he looked away.

"Wait, is this your cat? He followed me into my apartment when I came back from getting my mail." She scratched the cat behind his ears and smiled when he began to purr happily.

Natsu turned his attention back onto the cat and he began to glare.

"Yeah? Well, he snuck out of my apartment the first chance he got…" Natsu trailed off before his gaze fell upon the blonde's face and all of a sudden, he couldn't stop laughing.

His outburst took the girl by surprise and she quickly felt her anger heat up a bit.

"What's so funny?!" She demanded, though she'd be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy the sound of his laugh. How strange was that?

"Y-your cheek," Natsu barely managed to get out between chuckles, "we match!" He pointed at his own swollen cheek and the girl immediately shifted Happy in her arms so that she could hold him with one hand and touch her cheek with the other. She winced at the pain that emanated from the swollen flesh.

"What's your name anyway? I'm Natsu! Thats Happy, he seems to like you!" Natsu sported a wide grin that was pretty contagious.

The blonde smiled in return, "I'm Lucy, I don't think I've ever seen you around here though…" She trailed off and looked at him expectantly.

"Oh yeah, thats 'cause me and Happy just got here! We had to move after I accidentally set my last apartment on fire…" he trailed off and Lucy stared at him.

Standing up, Natsu looked around. He took in Lucy's apartment and almost immediately decided that he liked it better than his.

That was when he spotted them.

"Were you carving pumpkins?" He asked as he rushed over to the kitchen table, where two fairly large pumpkins awaited their fate.

"Ah, no. I was supposed to do this with Wendy but…" Lucy trailed off before she stared at Natsu, "But she was busy. Hey, do you wanna carve these pumpkins together? Maybe you can change my first impression of you by doing this with me." Lucy giggled before sticking her tongue out at him.

Natsu felt his cheeks warm again for a reason that he couldn't understand before he nodded.

"That sounds great! I wasn't really gonna do anything tonight except unpack anyway," he turned and grabbed the bigger of the two pumpkins. "Let's do this, Luigi!"

"... Its _Lucy_."

Natsu only laughed.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Rock

Today's prompt was "Rock", I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Liquid brown eyes widened in amazement as they watched a black rock skip across the otherwise serene water of the lake that both she and a certain fire mage had decided to set up camp near.

The rock just kept going until it was entirely out of the blondes line of sight.

"Natsu," Lucy whined, " how do you _do_ that?" the rose-haired young man only grinned and shrugged.

"I dunno, I guess being awesome has always come naturally to me." He laughed at the pout that Lucy then sported and he approached her, "Hey, it's really not that hard. I can show you if you want, this place has a ton of perfect skipping stones."

Lucy let the pout slip into a smile at the suggestion and almost immediately accepted Natsu's offer.

"Okay lemme see…" Natsu trailed off as he searched the ground, it only took him a few seconds to find a flat and smooth rock. "Here," He held it out for Lucy to grab. When she had it in her grasp, he pointed to the lake. "Alright, now let's see what you've got and I can figure out what you are doing wrong."

Lucy swallowed nervously before looking down at the rock that she weighed in her hands. Though she hesitated only a second before she reached her arm back and threw the rock as hard as she could, attempting to mimic the way that Natsu had done it earlier.

The rock didn't even touch the water.

"Ow!" Natsu exclaimed indignantly and was rubbing an already red bump on his forehead. "How the hell do you have that bad of an aim?!" He demanded, though grimaced when his fingers pressed on his fresh injury a bit too hard.

"I'm so sorry Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, hurrying to his side and she carefully moved his hand away from the bleeding wound. "Sit down! I brought a first aid kit!" Lucy then hurried off to where she'd set all her things down earlier.

She always carried that first aid kit around now, though this was the first time she would actually be able to use it since Wendy wasn't there with them.

Finding the kit with relative ease, Lucy hurried back to Natsu who had sat down at her request. His arms were folded across his chest and now _he_ was pouting.

"I think I'm going to stick to writing as a hobby instead of throwing rocks," the Celestial mage joked as she pulled out some disinfectant and began to work on disinfecting the injury. She was sure to be extra careful, though Natsu hissed as though she'd stung him when the liquid touched his sensitive wound.

"Yeah," Natsu agreed after a second, "That's probably a good idea."

Lucy slapped Natsu's shoulder and they both glared, but Natsu didn't say anything before looking away again.

Several painfully long minutes later, Lucy bit her lip nervously as she leaned back to take a look at her handiwork.

"I think it's good!"

Natsu's eyes were daggers as he stared at her.

They were the only visible part of his head. Lucy had accidentally managed to wrap his whole head in the gauze.

Natsu grumbled, his words completely incoherent thanks to the bandages and Lucy had a feeling that she should be grateful that she couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Oh, you're welcome Natsu! What was that? You think I'm super great? You liiiike me?" She gasped and placed her hand in front of her mouth, feigning shock. "I mean… I always knew you thought of me that way, though I didn't know how much! I'll have to really think about your confession though Natsu!" she then touched her cheeks as though she were embarrassed.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock at her words and she could practically feel the warmth radiating off of him and he quickly began to protest in a way that she couldn't fully understand.

"Natsu! You shouldn't say stuff like that!" Lucy exclaimed, "What if somebody were to hear you? So indecent!"

Natsu growled and ripped the bandages off of the lower part of his face, and Lucy could clearly see his heated up cheeks and she felt herself giggling in response.

"You're the one who shouldn't be sayin' stuff like that," his voice was low and Lucy was surprised by the emotion that she could hear in it. She felt herself sober up as she watched him curiously, though he didn't look at her for a long moment.

But when their eyes met… there was a sudden fire that burned between them. A fire that Lucy had never felt before.

In mere seconds, Natsu closed the distance between them. He placed both of his hands firmly on her shoulders and pulled her forward.

Their lips met and Lucy felt herself melt into him in a way that shocked her. Though it was over far too quickly as he pulled away to stare into her bleary eyes.

"You should really let the other person make their own confessions, Luce. Its pretty lame otherwise."

Lucy groaned in response to his mood-killing words, though her cheeks still felt warm from the kiss that the two had shared just moments before.

Her first kiss.


	3. Broken

The prompt for today is "Broken" Enjoy!

* * *

This wasn't how things were supposed to turn out.

This wasn't _anything_ like how things were supposed to turn out.

"Lu...cy…?" Natsu's voice was thick with pain, though he didn't care about that. All he cared about was the girl who was supposed to be right beside him.

Where was she?

His thoughts were a muddled mess, it was so difficult for him to try and figure out what was happening.

One moment everything was fine, Lucy was laughing at something he'd said and he had turned his attention on her for just one second. All he wanted was to see the look on her face while she laughed, it was his absolute favorite thing.

One second was too much to ask for, as it would seem.

Natsu had heard the tires screeching before he felt the impact of the truck on their little blue car.

Everything from that point on was a blur, now… all he could see was red.

"We're gonna need to take it off! Hurry people!" The sudden unfamiliar voices were somewhat shocking to his ears, it was difficult for him to understand what they were saying. Though he figured after a few jerks to the left of him, that they were referring to the door that was a bent inwards to the point of making it difficult to open.

"... There were two, the other was DOA. Female, couldn't have been much older than seventeen. I haven't seen such a young one in awhile, I guess I've been lucky."

What were they trying to say?

Groaning, the rose-haired young man struggled against his restraints. He didn't have time for any of this, he needed to find Lucy.

"Lucy…" He moaned as he finally managed to unbuckle the stubborn seatbelt.

"Whoa, whoa! Don't move kid, you've lost a lot of blood." Somebody was saying, though Natsu couldn't really see clearly enough to pick up on who.

"My girlfriend, where is she?" Natsu demanded, putting a lot more force into his voice than he probably should have considering his current state of health.

None of the voices responded to him, though he could hear them muttering to each other while they worked on keeping him still and getting him safely out of the car.

"Lucy," he called weakly, "Where are you?"

When he was moved onto a gurney, the young man's vision began to clear up a bit. He could see dark pillars of smoke billowing into the air, he could see that there was quite a crowd of people that had formed around them. People who Natsu had never seen… yet they were crying.

Was it really that bad? He supposed that it had to be considering all the pieces of his car amongst other kinds of debris that littered the street.

The need to find Lucy became completely overwhelming and he began to struggle again.

"Lucy!" He said her name as loud as he could, hoping that she at least was conscious enough to try and respond to him.

He had no such luck.

He was brought into an ambulance and was carefully strapped down so that he wouldn't make any sudden movements and hurt himself further. "Where the hell is Lucy?" His voice was barely more than a whisper, though the emotion behind his words was strong.

He watched the reactions of the paramedics that were tending to him, though each one of them had a carefully set expression on their face.

"Don't worry kid… you're gonna get some sleep now, everything will be better when you wake up."

Natsu couldn't even protest before the needle was being inserted, everything faded into darkness and the very last thought on his mind consisted of his beautiful, laughing girlfriend.

When he came to, it was impossible to tell how long he'd been out.

He certainly felt a lot worse than he had before, though he supposed that was probably a good thing considering the extensive amount of blood he'd lost.

It only took a few moments before the realization set in.

"Lucy!" He exclaimed, sitting up so quickly that the room spun. Natsu grimaced as he moved to place a hand to his head, though quickly found that it wasn't an easy action considering the fact that there were all kinds of things connected to him.

Of course, Natsu tore everything off of him and got up from the bed.

The room continued to spin, though after a moment of standing still he was able to move properly.

That is, until all of the beeping from the machines caught the attention of the nurses who quickly rushed into the room and attempted to get Natsu back into bed.

"No! I need to make sure Lucy is okay!" He fought against them, though their combined efforts were easily enough to force him into submission. He felt so weak, how long had he been unconscious?

"Mr. Dragneel, you really can't be moving around like that. You suffered quite a bit of internal damage during your accident, you might re-open one of your wounds." It was a man who was speaking and Natsu turned his angry eyes onto him. He stood in the doorway with a clipboard and Natsu didn't have to be a genius to figure out that he was the doctor.

"Where. Is. Lucy? Don't make me ask again old man.

Both of the nurses shifted uncomfortably and the doctor took off his glasses.

"Mr. Dragneel… miss Heartfilia didn't make it."

Natsu swallowed nervously at the word choice, she didn't make it?

"What does that mean? What do you mean she didn't make it? No, I don't care about that! All I want to know is where she is, I don't wanna know whether or not she could make something." Part of him knew that he was being irrational, perhaps even a little bit crazy.

Though any alternative was simply not an option that Natsu could consider.

"... Lucy Heartfilia died, Mr. Dragneel. She was dead on arrival and her injuries suggest that she didn't suffer. I'm very sorry for your loss."

The second the words 'Lucy' and 'died' were meshed into the same sentence, Natsu's entire world seemed to collapse right before his eyes.

"H-how is that possible? We were just going to the grocery store… w-we ran out of bread and she really wanted to make fried egg sandwiches for dinner…" Natsu began to shake and the nurses forced him back into bed.

In that moment, his entire world was taken away from him. Any chance of a happy future was swept from beneath his feet.

Natsu felt completely broken.


	4. Jump

For Day 10~ A bit late whoops, gonna have to play catch up!

* * *

"What are you doing?" The question from an unfamiliar voice was sudden and a certain blonde haired little girl nearly fell into the small stream, clearly taken by surprise.

When she saved herself from getting wet and breaking her streak, she sent a glare towards the person who had nearly ruined everything.

"I don't need to tell you," she said stubbornly before she bent her knees and threw herself over the water, her bare feet touched the ground on the other side with only a bit of a stumble upon landing. "You should go home."

The boy with pink hair only stared at her with a frown on his lips as she repeated the action once more.

"Aren't you getting tired?"

"No," Lucy lied, "This is easy." Though it wasn't, not really. She'd already jumped across the stream forty-three times, her muscles were aching and her lungs were practically begging her to stop. Though she couldn't. Not until she reached one-hundred and twenty-four.

"You look tired to me."

The little girls patience was wearing thin and she spun on her heel to glare at the boy who was sitting a few feet away from her. He smiled at her despite the annoyance in her face. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you around."

"I'm Natsu," the boy said simply, "I'm a dragon!"

That declaration seemed to take the girl by surprise and she stumbled backwards a step and nearly fell into the stream behind her.

When she realized that the boy wasn't just messing around, she scoffed and turned her attention back to the task that she'd set out to complete. She jumped again.

"Well, Natsu-the-dragon, you should still leave. I'm gonna be here for a long time so I can't walk you home or anything."

The boy was quiet for a long few moments, so Lucy was able to get in a couple more jumps in peace. Her legs were beginning to protest and she wasn't sure she would actually be able to do it as many times as she needed to. But she _had_ to keep going.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy watched as the boy stood up and walked away. Part of her felt relieved, while another part felt a bit sad. Which was strange, why should she feel sad when she had told him to leave? Besides, she didn't even know that boy.

Lucy kept jumping. Over and over again, she would throw herself over that stream. With each jump, she felt weaker and weaker.

The sky was darkening and the sunset beamed down on her, reminding the young girl as to just how long she'd been going at it.

Finally, on her one hundred and twenty-fourth jump, Lucy felt her legs give way beneath her as she dropped to her knees in the grass.

Her mind went back to the lesson that she'd been paying very close attention to that day during class.

 _"If you jump across this stream one hundred and twenty-four times in a row, your wish will be granted."_

 _The words had immediately caught the girl's attention and her gaze landed on the teacher who continued, "If your wish is powerful enough, it will be heard by the fairies that live within and near the waters. If your wish is pure enough… they will grant it."_

 _At this point, Lucy was frantically writing down all that she was hearing. She needed to remember everything that her teacher was saying. She couldn't forget a single thing, she had to do it right._

" _If, however, your wish is powerful yet impure or selfish… the fairies will ignore your wish."_

 _Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat that had begun to form as her hand trembled while she wrote, was her wish impure? Was her wish selfish?_

 _There was really only one way to find out, though would she be able to handle it if her wish wasn't granted?_

Lucy could feel tears welling up in her brown eyes as she watched the calmly moving water expectantly. Her lips trembled as she leaned forward and clenched her tiny hands into fists when she touched the grass.

"Please…" she whispered, "Please… I don't want to be alone anymore…"

Lucy thought of her mother who had died a few months prior, her father hardly even looked at her anymore. He didn't even as her how school went.

Her little heart felt so full of sadness and loneliness that she felt as though it might burst.

"Please…"

She expected bright and shining lights to appear along with her wish, she expected music to play and for the whole thing to be extremely extravagant.

That wasn't how it happened at all.

All of a sudden she felt weight on her shoulders and her eyes widened in surprise as she looked to her right and saw that the boy from earlier had returned. Now that she was looking at him, she could take in his appearance. He wore a white scarf that looked… checkered? It was a little bit difficult to see considering her tears and the darkening sky.

"I figured you'd be cold and hungry, so I went home, grabbed a blanket and brought some food." The boy plopped down beside her and opened up a basket that he'd brought along, he pulled out a small sheet that he laid out carefully in front of them before setting the basket down on that sheet. "My brother always cooks too much, so he said I could bring whatever I wanted."

Lucy peered down and her eyes widened in surprise at all of the different foods that were stuffed carelessly into the basket.

"Why are you crying? Did you get hurt while you were doing all that jumping? You're pretty weird…" The little boy frowned at her and Lucy quickly wiped away her tears before she shook her head in reply to his second question.

"I didn't get hurt, but… why did you come back? You didn't need to do any of this." Lucy couldn't understand why this boy that she had never met would go to such lengths for her.

"Why?" He echoed, "Well, you looked lonely. So I figured that I'd help take away your loneliness of course!"

Lucy stared at the grinning boy and tears were falling again within moments.

"Hey! Stop that! Why are you crying?! Geez…" Despite his exclamations, the boy gently placed his arm around the little girl and pulled her closer to him. An action that only made her cry harder. He felt so warm in contrast to the cool autumn air.

The two sat like that for a long time, watching as the colors of the sunset danced upon the waters of the stream and Lucy could have sworn she saw a fairy playing in that light.


	5. Transport

Please enjoy and don't forget to review~ This one is pretty angsty and has a bit of implied rape/sexual connotations! So read at your own risk!

* * *

"Do you remember when I first joined Fairy Tail?" Lucy's voice was quiet in the cell, though easily carried through the air and into the ears of all who were there with her. She could feel Natsu's arm tighten around her as he tried to pull her closer. It was as though he wished he could take her into himself entirely.

"How could we forget?" Lucy could hear Gray's response from where he sat across from her, he was probably a good ten feet away. Though somehow it sounded as though he was right in front of her. "You kind of changed everything. I'm not sure what it was, it was as though your presence triggered some kind of sequence of various events," he chuckled lightly, a hollow sound that made Lucy's heart ache.

She couldn't blame him. In fact, he deserved points for trying. Things weren't looking good for them.

PUT READ MORE HERE!

"I'm so hungry…" Wendy sat on the other side of Lucy, based on how her words were slightly muffled, Lucy could guess that Wendy had buried her head into her knees that were pulled up to her chest.

"I know," Lucy whispered, reaching over blindly and tenderly patted a body part that she couldn't even see, "Just stay strong Wendy, everything is going to be alright." The girl sniffled a little, though didn't say anything more, which relieved the Celestial mage.

She loved Wendy to pieces, though it wasn't going to do anybody any good to have to be constantly reminded of their shortcomings.

A loud bang followed by the sound of the door opening made everybody freeze up. Natsu's grip on Lucy tightened even more and she would have flinched if she wasn't almost completely ridgid.

The dim light that filtered into the nearly completely enclosed cell was enough to let everybody see, even if just a little. While everybody else's eyes were on the person opening the door, Lucy took this opportunity to get a look at all of her friends, her family. Everybody looked so exhausted, so weak.

Gray held Juvia similar to the way that Lucy suspected Natsu was holding onto her, as though he was afraid she'd be taken from his side if he let go. Not far from Gray sat Erza, who looked as though she was actually ready to fight. Despite how everybody knew she absolutely couldn't with that bum leg of hers, it had been severely injured during the last spat she'd had with their captors. It was clear to Lucy that Erza was fighting hard to keep the pain from reaching her face now that the others could see her, though Lucy could see right through that facade.

"Let's see now… who was next again?" The raspy voice of their captor was harsh on their sensitive ears as he spoke as though he'd just exited a room with deafening music. "I think we're gonna go blonde this time." Lucy's eyes widened and she began to tremble within Natsu's grasp and she heard him growl when the man took a step towards them.

"If you think I'm letting you lay your filthy hands on Lucy you've got another thing coming you bastard." Natsu's voice was strong, though she could feel that his own strength was wavering as well. Lucy knew that there was no way Natsu would be able to hold his own in a fight with his current state of health. Natsu would more than likely find himself with an injury not unlike the one that Erza had, perhaps even worse. That thought was enough to strengthen Lucy's resolve.

"Let me go, Natsu." she whispered as she tentatively patted the hand that was still gripping her shoulder. His head whipped around and his eyes were wide as he stared at her, it was clear that he didn't like what she was saying. He opened his mouth to argue and Lucy carefully held up her finger to his lips, an action that surprisingly managed to silence the dragon slayer. "I'll be fine," she whispered and Natsu's eyebrows knit together.

Before he could say anything more, Lucy slipped out of his grasp and stood up. The man grabbed her none too gently and pulled her out of the cell, slamming the door behind them and made sure to lock it.

Apparently the men who kept the Fairies captive didn't often have the chance to see women, this much was obvious by how they practically salivated at the mere sight of Lucy. Granted, there was not a doubt in her mind that the majority of that was due to the fact that her outfit had been torn considerably since they'd arrived there. Which really, shouldn't be much of a surprise to the blonde. It wasn't all that often that she had the chance to wear one of her outfits to their full potential. It felt as though nearly all of her outfits were torn up before she could wear them more than a couple times.

She was brought to a room with several other large men and she felt so small and insignificant beneath their hungry gazes.

"Don't fight it and I can guarantee that you will have an easier time," the man who had gotten her from the cell whispered into her ear, sending chills down her spine.

As much as she wanted to, Lucy didn't fight it.

No one really knew how much time had passed since they'd been taken in by the enemy. At this point, nobody really cared so much about time as they did about their sanity. The moment Lucy returned that first time… Natsu had changed. Lucy didn't need to say a word and he'd so fiercely grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, he glared daggers at the man who was gone within moments of his return with Lucy.

Every time one of the men returned, it would almost always be for Lucy. Natsu and the others would always try and put up a fight, though each of those fights concluded with them either being knocked unconscious or effectively beat down.

While Lucy felt as though her world was crumbling with each second that passed, the thing that hurt the most was the look of complete guilt that Natsu had on his face every single time that she came back. He would hold her so close to himself, as though he could take away her pain. As though he could replace their scent with his own.

A couple days later, Lucy knew what she had to do.

Each time she'd be taken out of the magic draining cell, she would work on regaining the magic that she had lost. She didn't have her keys, though the blonde knew that there was something she could do if she was able to work up enough magic. When her shot came, Lucy took it wholeheartedly. She'd accepted the consequences that would go along with the act she'd perform.

When one of the men came for her, for the last time, Lucy looked to Natsu. The fire in his eyes shone fiercely at the offending male, though his face told a whole different story. It was swollen from all of the times that he'd taken a hit, he was absolutely black and blue.

Lucy reached out and touched his face, an action that took Natsu by surprise. His eyes softened when they landed on her and she smiled.

"Make sure you go on as many adventures as possible, okay?" She asked and Natsu frowned, unsure of what to think about her words. He was so surprised by the things that she'd said and done, that he couldn't even react when she stood up and walked with the man to the door.

Only this time, instead of following him and leaving the others behind… the Celestial mage surprised _everybody_ by turning around and throwing her leg forward in her signature 'Lucy Kick'. Her foot planted firmly against the man's stomach and he flew backwards. She knew that she had to act quickly.

Holding her right hand out with her fingers splayed in the middle of the doorway, Lucy closed her eyes.

"As a mage gifted with the ability of opening gates, I open the gate to Earthland!"

For a long moment, nothing happened. At first, Lucy thought that perhaps she had overestimated the amount of magical power that she'd accumulated over the last several days. In that moment, her heart sank and she thought for sure that everything that she had done up to that point was for naught. Tears had just begun to spring into her eyes when she saw the glow that began to show itself.

It began within her and flowed out of her hand. Soon, the entire doorway was a portal to Earthland and Lucy could feel her strength quickly beginning to waver.

The gate would not be open long. Already she could hear the man on the other side of the glowing gate shouting for reinforcements.

"Lucy what…?" The others were now standing and had approached her apprehensively, unsure as to how she was do ing this at all.

"My ability of being able to summon Celestial Spirits doesn't come solely from the keys," she explained as quickly as she could, "The only reason I can summon Celestial Spirits is because I can open the gate to the Celestial world. So… I guess I kind of figured I'd be able to open a gate to Earthland as well, I think I got lucky." She shrugged as though it really wasn't a big deal, struggling to keep the strain from showing on her face.

When they'd been taken to this foreign and horrible part of the Celestial realm, the idea that Lucy could return everybody to Earthland by opening a gate had always been present.

It had simply been the fact that nearly all of her magic energy had been drained that she didn't believe she could do it.

"Gray-sama! We can go home!" Juvia said, her voice excited yet weak. Gray smiled at the bluenette, though his eyes showed concern for Lucy. It was a look that the blonde had a feeling that she'd received from everybody there for the rest of her life. Perhaps it was a good thing that she wouldn't be returning with them.

Juvia smiled at Lucy before she pulled Gray into the portal with her. The two disappeared and Lucy could feel them leaving this realm, a significant amount of magical power was taken from her as this happened and she knew that her suspicions about the after effects of using magic like this would be accurate.

Erza and Wendy were next, both of them smiled at her and gave her a hug.

"We'll see you on the other side, Lucy. You're one tough cookie, you know that Lucy?" Erza gave Lucy one final squeeze before she limped through the portal. Lucy tensed her body against the exhaustion that was building up within her as she smiled down at Wendy.

"Make sure that Erza gets the treatment she needs right away, okay?" Wendy nodded before she hugged Lucy, her tiny arms had a surprising strength behind that hug. She then hurried through the portal.

This time, Lucy staggered as she felt the drop in magical energy. The portals light dimmed slightly and if it weren't for Natsu's grip on her, she probably would have fallen over.

"What's going on Lucy?" Natsu's voice was hard, though the concern for her was evident if not frantic as he shook her a little. "What is happening right now?"

Natsu wasn't an idiot. Lucy couldn't help but smile a little bit at the thought, no matter what anybody said… Natsu didn't get the credit that he deserved. Lucy knew that for a fact now, though really… Lucy never truly doubted him.

"Lucy!" Natsu's voice was raspy, though it didn't lack in power.

"I can't go back, Natsu." she whispered softly as she smiled up and into his face, his eyes were wide and she could feel the tears beginning to form in her own as she thought about it. Her heart ached at the knowledge that she'd never get to see Happy or any of the others again, though she knew that this was the only way to get everybody back home safely.

She wouldn't regret a single moment of this, not when she knew that they'd all be able to heal up and live happy and healthy lives.

The flickering light of the portal reminded Lucy that time was of the essence and she straightened up in Natsu's arms.

"Natsu, you need to hurry." she said, gesturing to the portal. "If you don't, you won't be able to make it back to Happy and the others."

"Are you an idiot?!" Natsu demanded, grabbing Lucy by both of her shoulders. "I'm not going to leave you! "

Swallowing nervously, Lucy knew that she had to pull out the big guns.

Reaching up, Lucy grabbed Natsu's scarf and pulled him down, forcefully pushing her lips against his. She heard him gasp and he staggered back a few steps, steps that she matched.

Pulling away, Lucy looked straight into Natsu's eyes and felt her cheeks warm.

"I love you, Natsu. I love you more than I've loved anybody in my entire life, I never knew that I could feel this way about somebody before I met you. Natsu… you are the most beautiful soul, and I am entirely thrilled that I had the chance to meet you."

Before Natsu could respond, Lucy used the remaining strength that she had to take advantage of the genuine shock Natsu was going through and pushed him into the portal. A moment later the glowing light flickered and it was gone.

Lucy dropped to her knees, then to the ground. She knew then that death was inevitable, and she would possibly never see them again. But what mattered to Lucy was that she got all of the others out safe even if she was never to return to her home, Fairy Tail.


	6. Worried

Here is another one~ I almost didn't want to upload it because its so short psh. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"I can't believe this." Natsu paced back and forth in the bedroom, his abs still shone in the morning light as the rays of sun kissed his damp skin.

Lucy didn't think she ever wanted to shower alone again.

"Natsu…" she struggled to keep the smile from playing across her face at his serious tone.

"Why didn't you say something sooner, Lucy? Did'ja think I'd automatically know?" He ran his hands through his wet hair and she felt a few drops of water hit her from where she sat in bed.

"Natsu, you really don't-"

"I could have killed you, Lucy!" Natsu moved to her side and tentatively grabbed her hands that had been clasped in her lap. Her cheeks flushed and she looked away. "Why aren't you freaking out? You should be beating me up right now!" Natsu's eyes were so filled with concern and anger at himself that Lucy actually felt a bit taken aback.

"Natsu!" She exclaimed, forcing the rose-haired young man to shut up and listen to her. "I'm not going to die because you added milk to the eggs!"

Natsu's eyes were wide before they narrowed and he glared at her. "But you just said-"

"I said that I was lactose intolerant, so I'm just gonna have a little bit of a stomach ache. That's _all_. Geez, you're getting all worked up over nothing!"

Natsu's eyes softened and he sighed before he threw his hands up into the air, "I worry about you! Is that really a crime?"

Lucy giggled softly before clicking her tongue and snuggling further beneath the blankets, "If you worry about me, come keep me warm!"

Natsu puffed out his cheeks. "I was supposed to go on a job with Gray!" Though he couldn't resist her and wound up jumping into the bed before a full five seconds could pass. He roughly pulled her to his chest and ignored her squeak of protest before burying his face into her hair.

"You are gonna accidentally crush me one of these days. You know that, right?" Natsu only grumbled incoherently and soon, she could hear him snoring and she couldn't help but sigh happily. She actually kind of enjoyed the tightness of his grasp, how it felt to be so entirely loved by another person. By _Natsu_.

 _Her_ Natsu.


	7. Scared

Here is another one! Whoops, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

The scream that reverberated through the house was loud enough to make Natsu visibly flinch. Lucy clung to him as though her life depended on it and he couldn't help but roll his eyes as he tentatively patted the girl on the shoulder.

"You know this isn't real, right? Geez Luce, I didn't know you were such a wimp." This comment earned him a light slap on the shoulder as the blonde pulled herself out of his grasp and folded her arms across her chest with a pout.

"I'm _not_ a wimp. Cut me a little slack, isn't this movie supposed to be the scariest of the year?" Lucy leaned over and reached for the CD case that lay there from when she'd taken the disk out. She squinted as she struggled to read in the dark and blinked repetitively when suddenly the lamp beside Natsu flickered on and she frowned at him.

"It's bad for your eyes to read in the dark," he said with a shrug, causing her to sigh and return her attention to the somewhat graphic cover of the case that she held in her hands. It was the face of what appeared to be a young boy, only instead of eyes there were teeth and where the mouth was supposed to be… there was a zipper.

It pretty much looked like the cover of every other scary movie that Lucy ever had the 'pleasure' of seeing. Which wasn't that many, if she was being completely honest.

Her chocolate eyes scanned the front and back of the DVD case as she searched for the words that she'd been certain that she had seen when they first picked it up. "A-ha! See!" She pointed and held it out for Natsu to take a look, as though he couldn't read over her shoulder. "'Scariest movie of this decade'," she quoted, "So no, I'm _not_ a wimp."

As though her words had summoned some kind of unknown force, there was a loud banging sound from deeper within the house. This time, it was Natsu who tensed.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice suddenly not quite as light as it had been mere moments before.

Swallowing nervously, Lucy felt herself scooting closer to Natsu though he shook his head as he stood up from the couch. "I'm going to go see what that was, Lucy…" he trailed off before looking deeply into her wide and frightened brown eyes.

"Natsu… don't leave me," she whispered as she grasped his sleeve, "I'm…" she shook her head before worrying her lip a bit, "shouldn't we call the police? What if it's a thief?" She didn't care much for the thought of Natsu going off and confronting anything unknown to the both of them.

Of course, she knew Natsu was strong. He had to be considering the fact that he had trained so hard to get into the police force. Lucy had been with him every step of the way, and even though Natsu had always been so strong… he'd definitely been challenged. Natsu had managed to pull through and pretty much ace every single test that he had to take. So it wasn't as though Lucy doubted Natsu's strength, that certainly was not the case.

She supposed that she'd worry about him even if he became the strongest man alive. Even the strongest had their weaknesses.

"Lucy, you can call the police. I'm pretty sure Gray is on the clock right now, he'll be over the second he hears about this. I just don't want them to get anywhere near you, I can't risk something like that." His lips formed a frown and Lucy's heart gave a little bit of a squeeze from within her chest, Natsu was about to pull his arm from her grasp when there was another noise.

This one was much closer, much louder.

Much more terrifying, because they _still_ couldn't see what the cause was. It sounded as though something or some _one_ had deliberately slammed their hand against the wall.

Now Lucy was off of the couch as well as she tried to see past the small halo of light that the lamp provided. It felt as though the actual light switch was too far away to even consider dashing to.

Not that it actually mattered. Moments later, the lamps light bulb flickered once… twice… and then went out completely. Immersing the pair entirely in darkness considering the fact that the tv also shut off.

Lucy would never go so far as to say that she was a superstitious person… except that she totally was. The blonde could feel gooseflesh rising on her arms as she immediately wished that they had chosen a light-hearted movie instead of something from the horror genre.

She wouldn't be so scared right now had they been watching something like Bambi.

She'd be too busy thinking about cute little deer and bunnies, the idea of some psycho serial killer or evil ghost would be nowhere _near_ her thoughts.

The familiar sound of a lighter being flicked was the only warning Lucy had before the light from the small flame illuminated Natsu's face, he looked _angry_.

"Don't worry Lucy, I'm going to take care of this. You have your cell, right? Call 911." Already, Lucy was fumbling with the pockets of her sweat pants and she felt herself begin to tremble when she saw the small 'x' that sat beside her signal bars.

"Natsu… I'm not getting a signal. I _always_ have a signal, why don't I have signal?" she felt the panic settle in as her breathing began to become a bit irregular.

However, before either one of them could say or do something else… there was another bang. This time it sounded as though it was right next to Lucy. She jumped about five feet into the air and Natsu grabbed her, effectively pulling her back and behind him as he waved the lighter around in an attempt to see who threatened his girlfriend.

"Whoa! Watch it!"

The voice belonged to neither Natsu nor Lucy, though both of them recognized it.

Lucy could feel herself beginning to relax before she felt hands on her shoulders and she could practically feel her soul leaving her body due to the shock.

"Boo!" This was another familiar voice.

"E-Erza?" Lucy asked faintly and she could hear laughter, a lot of laughter.

Was _everybody_ there?

Mere moments later and the lights came back on and she could see that practically everybody was there, even Laxus and his squad.

"What the hell?!" Natsu demanded, though the anger that had been there before was no longer present in his tone.

"We're throwing you two a surprise halloween party, can't you tell? You are such an idiot." Gray waved his hand around as though he'd just stated a well known fact, effectively re-igniting Natsu's anger. The rose-haired young man jumped towards Gray and the two began to fight.

"H-hey! Not in the house!" Lucy shouted, recovering from her temporary state of shock.

The two reluctantly took the rain-check though continued to glare at one another. Lucy couldn't help but giggle a little bit at their antics before she turned her attention onto the scarlet haired young woman who now stood beside her.

"Why do we get a surprise halloween party?" Lucy asked curiously and Erza laughed a bit at the blonde's surprise.

"Do you really need to ask? This is the first year you and Natsu are officially dating! We all decided that we needed to do something special, it was Gray who suggested we try and scare the wits out of you first. I was hesitant, though I do agree that it was quite amusing to watch the two of you freak out."

"Hey!" Lucy tried to hold an angry face, though she couldn't help but smile.

"We brought food!" It was Levy who spoke this time, she bounced over with Gajeel in tow. He was carrying what appeared to be two different dishes. "I made a punch earlier, but I kind of dropped it on the way here." She frowned at this and Gajeel chuckled.

"She tripped over nothing, it was pretty cute."

Levy's cheeks heated up and she spun on her heel to glare at her boyfriend. "Gajeel! You didn't need to say that!" The dark-haired man only laughed before he turned and walked away, looking for a good spot to put the food. Quickly finding the counter where the others had put other snacks and things.

Soon, music was blasting and Lucy was convinced that her stingy neighbors would complain about the noise level.

She supposed it was a good thing that half the police force was there in that house with her.

They liked to call themselves 'Fairy Tail', Lucy was beginning to think about studying to join as well.


	8. Tree

I really do wish that you guys would review and let me know what you're thinking, if this wasn't a challenge I probably would lose the motivation to update tbh. BUT OH WELL

I love NaLu, I'm not gonna let the lack of reviews get me down too much!

* * *

"Have you decided yet?" Natsu asked eagerly as he burst into the house, tossing his things to the ground as he immediately moved to his very beautiful and very pregnant wife's side. He tenderly placed a kiss on her forehead before sitting down on the couch beside her.

She hadn't moved much from where she'd been when he left to go on a job with Gray and Erza. He couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty over the fact that what she was going through was pretty much entirely his fault. Though at the same time, he was thrilled that he had helped create something that would be such a major part of their lives. To him, this felt like one of the biggest steps that the two could make together. So he felt very enthusiastic about it all.

Lucy, on the other hand, had been quite moody lately. He often found himself having to tread carefully, the doctors said that this was completely normal. A pregnancy really messed with a woman's hormones, so he had to remember that he needed to take everything Lucy said or did with a grain of salt. Which was easy enough since Lucy almost always felt bad after snapping at him.

"No," Lucy whined before tossing the magazine that she'd been holding onto the small glass table that sat in the livingroom. "I really don't want to make this decision on my own," she leaned over and snuggled into the side of her husband who accepted her with open arms. "Why am I the one who has to do it?" She peered up at him with such a wounded puppy look that he absolutely had to look away in order to avoid letting her change his mind.

"Because Luce, I kind of thought you'd wanna be the one who would wanna pick it out. If you really don't want to then I don't mind doing it."

The celestial mage was silent for a long moment, her face contemplative as she stared at the magazine she had just discarded before she looked back up at Natsu, her hand on her swollen belly as a gentle smile touched her lips. "How about we figure it out together?"

Natsu blinked before he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, "Why didn't I think of that? I think that's a great idea Luce." He gave her shoulder a small squeeze before stretching forward to grab the magazine that had been tossed by his pregnant wife. "Let's see…" he leaned back and Lucy was once again snuggled into his side, an action that made his cheeks warm.

He loved her _so_ much.

"How about we go with the strongest?" He asked after a long moment of flipping through the pages,

Lucy thought about it for a second before she reached over and flipped back a few pages, "The strongest bark? Or the strongest roots? I feel like the deeper the roots… the stronger the tree? The more likely it is to survive, you know? A tree can be strong… but if its roots aren't strong enough…" she trailed off before looking to Natsu, who was watching her with a look on his face that was so intense she couldn't help but look away in embarrassment.

"I think that's a great idea," Natsu said when Lucy stopped speaking, "Kind of like family. The bonds between family are so important, so strong… so I think the strongest roots sounds like a great idea. Which tree should we go with then?"

Lucy flipped the page once more and her eyes landed on an absolutely beautiful tree. It was massive and Lucy knew that it was the one that she wanted.

"How about this one? White oak? Its roots grow deep and strong, and it's known to have some tough wood."

Natsu's eyes reluctantly left Lucy's face so that they could fall onto the picture that Lucy was pointing at. Immediately he knew that it was a great idea.

"I'll go buy a sapling now," he gently pulled Lucy's head closer to his so that he could kiss her temple before he stood up, "The baby is getting close! I can feel it! I need to make sure that we have the tree in time! I'll try and be back before tomorrow morning!" He was out the door before Lucy could even respond, though she giggled a bit at her husband's excitement.

He had been the one to suggest that they planted a sapling when their baby was born, he said that it would be fun to watch the two grow and become stronger as they aged.

Lucy adored the idea, though had been really having a tough time since Natsu asked her to make the final decision. She was so glad that he agreed to decide together instead.

It couldn't have been more than ten minutes after Natsu left when Lucy's water broke and all hell broke lose.

The pain was excruciating and it took just about all of her strength just to drag her pain riddled body outside so that she could get somebody's attention. It was one of her neighbors that spotted her first, or rather… _heard_ her first. Lucy was screaming pretty loudly.

That neighbor had rushed to Fairy Tail so that they could let people know and bring Wendy. The little sapphire haired dragon slayer had been studying like crazy so that she could help bring Lucy and Natsu's child into the world. Lucy could only pray that she was ready, because this wasn't supposed to happen for another week or so.

The levels of pain that she felt wracking through her body was somewhat daunting, was this normal? Would everything be okay? Was the baby going to be okay? Oh Mavis, was the baby going to be okay?

By the time Wendy and the other members of Team Natsu showed up, Lucy was clutching her stomach as she struggled to regulate her sporadic breathing.

"We need to get her into bed, Gray?" Wendy tried to maintain an instructive appearance, though her concern for Lucy easily shone through her professional front.

"Hey hey, everything is going to be alright." Gray tried to reassure the weeping young woman before he gathered her into his arms and hurried her back into the house. He easily found the bedroom and gently laid Lucy down, the sheen of sweat and the pain in her eyes made the dark-haired man grimace as he turned to Wendy who was already at Lucy's side.

"Lucy-san, where is Natsu?" Wendy asked urgently, the other dragon slayer would never forgive himself if he missed this moment.

"H-he went out…" Lucy gasped out between breaths, "I-I don't know when he'll be back. He might have left town... " She had no idea where Natsu would manage to find a white oak sapling, though she had a feeling that it would probably be pretty hard to find.

What if he didn't get back in time to be there when his child was born?

Her thoughts were cut off by another spasm of pain and she screamed, causing everybody to flinch in response and Wendy got to work.

"I can't believe that bastard went off somewhere so close to your due date, he is such an idiot!" Gray sounded angry, though he mostly looked concerned for Lucy. He'd never seen this before.

"Watch your tongue!" Erza ordered angrily, "The baby is almost here! We don't need to have it learning _your_ vocabulary." Gray shut his mouth, though he didn't look happy about it, "I'm sure Natsu will be back soon, Lucy. He didn't even complain about getting on the train because he wanted to get home to you as fast as he possibly could. So I am positive he will not be gone for too long."

Several hours passed, Lucy's pain only doubled because she didn't want to take anything for it.

"Lucy… I think you're going to actually break my hand if you keep squeezing like that…" Gray trailed off as he struggled to keep his composure. His fingers were practically purple due to the death grip that Lucy had on his hand.

"Squeeze as hard as you need to Lucy, he's tough. He'll be okay." Erza sat in the chair on the other side of Lucy and had also offered up her hand for the blonde to squeeze.

"I see the head!" Wendy then shouted, taking everybody by surprise. "Lucy! You need to push now!"

"I don't think I'm gonna make it," Gray's face was white at the thought of the baby coming out of Lucy.

Lucy screamed as she did as Wendy ordered.

"Yes good! Come one, keep on pushing!" Wendy urged, her voice lacking any uncertainty that it might have contained a few hours previous. Lucy needed Wendy to be strong right now, so she would be. She absolutely had to be.

The celestial mage screamed again, it sounded so forced and pain filled that it was pretty difficult to listen to.

"What the hell is going on in here?! Lucy are you okay?!" Natsu's loud voice could be heard through the screaming and now… the wails that came from an unknown source. Wails that forced everybody into a shocked silence, even Wendy actually paused a moment before actually continuing what she needed to do.

"Y-you have a beautiful baby boy," she gasped after a long moment and smiled up at Lucy before turning to smile at Natsu as well.

He stood in the doorway with a tree in his arms. A small tree… but the sight was enough to take everybody besides Lucy off guard.

Natsu stared at the naked, crying baby that lay in Wendy's arms and he dropped the tree before staggering forward.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered as she held her hand out to him, her lips were cracked and she looked so weak. So tired. Though the happiness in her eyes at seeing both her son and husband arrive at the same time… it was overwhelming and he was walking towards her without any trace of hesitation.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered as he brushed her matted hair from her forehead, "I had no idea-" he cut himself off when she shook her head and her eyes were on the baby once more.

"You're here, Natsu." she whispered, "You came just in time… that's what matters." She cleared her throat, struggling to keep from falling asleep right there. She felt so exhausted now. "C-can I hold him?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper and Wendy nodded as she finished tying the umbilical cord. She wrapped the baby in a blanket that Erza had offered and walked around the bed so that she could hand the baby to his mother.

Lucy's eyes filled as she hugged the bundle to her chest gently, almost immediately his cries began to subside, as though he _knew_.

"Look, Natsu." she breathed happily as she watched the baby boy wrap his tiny hand around her pinky. "He has your eyes."

Natsu's emotions were everywhere, he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it before he chuckled softly in response to her words.

"Well judging by that almost nonexistent tuft of hair on his head… he is gonna have your hair Luce."

Erza, Gray, and Wendy all quietly left the room so that they could give the brand new mother and father some time alone.

"You found one," Lucy said with a smile as her gave finally managed to leave her son's face. Her eyes were on the sapling that lay forgotten in the corner of the room.

"Huh?" Natsu asked before reluctantly following her gaze, "Oh, yeah! I actually kinda ripped it out of the ground. None of the shops I went to had anything like it, so when I found this one in somebody's backyard-"

"Natsu!" Lucy gasped, feigning offense. Though of course, by now she had gotten used to his somewhat rash way of doing things. "You are gonna need to replace that person's tree eventually."

"Yeah, but later. For now… I wanna give as much attention as possible to little Igneel." It felt strange saying the name while referring to somebody who wasn't his father-figure. Of course, he and Lucy had already decided months prior that if they had a son… they would name him Igneel.

"I guess this is it, huh?" Lucy asked after a long moment, "This is where the real adventure begins."

Natsu chuckled softly before he nodded and ran his fingers through her hair, "Yeah, I guess it is."


	9. Relaxed

A bit angsty ish I guess? Please enjoy~

* * *

"Are you comfortable?" The voice surprised her, despite the fact that they had been speaking for a few minutes now. She just felt so sleepy.

"Yeah, I'm comfortable." Her voice was quiet and her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned her head back and took in a deep breath through her nose. Her senses were assaulted by the smell of campfire and nature. All of her favorite smells in one.

"Lucy…"

"I'm just resting my eyes," she whispered, "Can you tell me a story, Natsu?" She felt the arms around her tighten fractionally and she sighed. "It doesn't have to be a long one. How about the time when we first met? Or when you dug up that Sakura tree so that I could see it even though I was sick?"

"Yeah, sure. I can do that Luce. But you know I've never been good at telling stories, you've always been the one to tell the interesting stories." His voice sounded strained. As though he was struggling to keep a smile on his face.

"I just want to hear you talk," Lucy admitted sheepishly, "You could talk about what kind of fish Happy caught yesterday and that would be good enough for me." The silence that followed her words was long, at first… she couldn't help but wonder if he'd fallen asleep.

"I want to hear _you_ talk." At first, Lucy wasn't quite sure she had heard properly because he began to speak of the time he first realized that his feelings for her might be more than the feelings he had for everybody else in the guild. He then went on to talk about how excited he always got whenever Lucy agreed to tag along on the missions that Natsu picked.

He loved her sense of adventure, he was sure to tell her that.

As he continued to speak, Lucy began to feel herself drifting.

She felt so warm despite the crisp autumn air that surrounded them, she had Natsu to thank for that. He had always been so good at keeping her warm.

She felt relaxed despite how much suffering she had gone through the past few months.

Lucy hadn't been surprised when she learned that she was sick. Her mother's weak constitution had been passed onto Lucy it seemed, something that part of her had always known would happen.

"Lucy!" Natsu shook her from her musings and her eyes fluttered open, she found herself looking right into Natsu's damp eyes. "I'm not ready," he whispered, "I know it's selfish… but I'm. Not. Ready." She could feel him shaking as he spoke and her heart ached for him. She wanted to tell him that everything would be okay, she wanted to tell him that he needed to remain strong. Igneel was still so young, he would need his father to be there for him.

She wanted to say so many things, though she couldn't find the words.

"I know," he whispered shakily, "I know that you have been having a tough time… I _know_ that it really isn't fair for me to ask anything of you. But we _need_ you here Lucy, I can't do any of this on my own… you know how big of an idiot I am. Wendy said that she would learn what she needs to in order to make you healthy again. So please… _please_ don't give up now."

Lucy knew he was right.

Natsu would have a really tough time taking care of both Igneel and himself on his own, though Lucy also knew… that he would never _really_ be on his own. He would have the entire guild and their support, he would always have the guild.

Though she knew this, she nodded.

"I'm gonna keep fighting," she promised, "I won't stop until I can't fight any longer. Even then…" she trailed off and she smiled, "I'm a Fairy Tail mage, I'm not gonna give up. I just… I am so tired right now, maybe I'll just sleep for a little while. Then we can go back home, Wendy said she'd be back today, right?"

Natsu smiled down at her, the relief in his eyes made her smile in return.

"Yeah, get some sleep Luce… I'll keep you nice and warm.

Lucy didn't need any further permission, she fell asleep in his arms so quickly.

Natsu Dragneel… it was funny how he could manage to both stress her out with a few of his antics and make her feel so completely relaxed during these moments.


End file.
